30 



TIMBER DEPLETION, PRICES, EXPORTS, AND OWNERSHIP. 



pentine and 6,900,000,000 pounds of rosin. Our own markets 

 and export demands will, it is believed, absorb 25,000,000 gallons 

 of spirits and 825,000,000 pounds of rosin annually. At this 

 rate the supply of timber now in sight would be exhausted in 

 less than 10 years. It will actually be extended beyond this 

 period by the production of wood turpentine and rosin and also 

 by the gradual falling off in the rate of production as the re- 

 maining timber supplies become exhausted. The indications 

 are, however, that the production of gum naval stores in the 

 southern pine belt will within 10 years have been reduced to 

 such an extent that export markets and even our own must look 

 elsewhere for their main supplies. 



The naval stores industry of the South has migrated from 

 State to State, following the timber. North Carolina, where 

 now production is negligible, was for many years the leading 

 State. South Carolina has been practically abandoned by the 

 industry for more than 20 years. Rising prices have induced 

 a few operators to go back over the territory to work scattered 

 second-growth stands and isolated patches of virgin timber, but 

 it seems probable that these supplies will be exhausted within 

 four years. Well-informed men in the industry believe that in 

 from four to six years under present demands Georgia will 

 take its place with North and South Carolina as an insignificant 

 factor in production. 



Florida has been the mainstay of naval stores production 

 during the last 10 years, but the end of its supply is definitely 

 in sight. Of late the value of its product has been more than 

 twice as much as that of any other State, and nearly half the 

 value of the naval stores produced in all Southern States. 

 Fairly accurate data on the resources of Florida have been 

 compiled by some of the large naval stores Interests. This in- 

 formation, checked by estimates of well-informed operators in 

 various parts of the State, Indicates that at the current rate of 

 production Florida can not hold Its own for more than eight 

 years. That the State will soon be brought to the position of 

 North and South Carolina and Georgia is improbable, since a 

 very considerable portion of the remaining timber is held by 

 strong corporations in large, well-blocked bodies, and it is to be 

 expected that exploitation will be more conservative and less 

 wasteful and hurried. It is the opinion of the well-informed 

 men in the Florida industry that not more than 5,000 crops of 

 uncupped timber available for operation remain in the State. 



Much of the longleaf and slash pine of Alabama has already 

 been worked, and the greater portion of the remaining stand 

 of uncupped timber is in the hands of large lumber companies. 

 Turpentine operators, judging from the present rate" of lumber- 

 ing, foresee a possible increase in production for the next three 

 years, followed by a very rapid reduction. They believe that 

 the State will be practically eliminated as a large pnirtncer of 

 naval stores within five years. General opinion places remain- 

 ing stands at not more than 1,000 crops, including all second 

 growth now merchantable. 



Well-informed observers believe that Mississippi will show 

 an increase in production during the next four or five years. 

 The timber, however, both here and in Louisiana and Texas, is 

 largely owned by lumbermen who will force a rapid exploita- 

 tion for naval stores in order that the lumbering may not be 

 delayed. Five thousand crops of uncupped timber are esti- 

 mated. It is predicted that the crest of production will have 

 been passed within five years, and that this will be followed by 

 a rapid decline. Within eight years Mississippi will not be a 

 leading State in naval-stores production. 



The industry is comparatively new in Louisiana. The timber 

 is largely held by lumbermen who excluded naval-stores opera- 

 tions very generally until four or five years ago. Much of the 

 timber has been and some of it is still being cut unturpentined. 

 The average turpentine lease on many of these large holdings 

 does not exceed two years in length. Of the 27 billion feet of 



longleaf pine in Louisiana the removal of 20 billion feet for 

 lumber is predicted during the next 10 years. A yield of not to 

 exceed 13,500 crops is anticipated. Operators familiar with the 

 situation agree that 10 y*ars will probably see the beginning of 

 a very rapid decline in production from Louisiana, and 15 

 years the end of the present supply. 



Sawmills will probably remove 7,500 million feet of the 11 

 billion feet of longleaf pine in Texas during the next 10 years, 

 and Texas is the last stand of the turpentine industry in the 

 South. Naval-stores production in Texas will be increased rap- 

 idly as the Eastern States are exhausted, but operations will 

 be seriously curtailed by the desire of timber owners to exploit 

 the stands for lumber. The naval-stores industry estimates 

 that there are not more than 4,600 crops in Texas and predicts 

 practical exhaustion within 10 years. 



METHODS OF EXPLOITATION. 



While the rate of depletion of the supply of naval-stores tim- 

 ber has been greatly accelerated during the last few years by 

 the rapid cutting of timber controlled by lumber interests, the 

 naval-stores operators themselves are responsible for the fact 

 that what was once the largest and finest naval-stores forest in 

 existence is about to become a matter of history. The method 

 of exploitation commonly follotved during the last hundred 

 years is crude, wasteful, destructive, and sadly shortsighted. 

 Under the driving urge of maximum financial returns in a mini- 

 mum of time, regardless of after effects, turpentine orchards 

 even to-day are operated so destructively that the trees are ex- 

 hausted in from four to six years and turned over to the saw- 

 mill man showing a loss due to turpentining of from 20 to 50 

 per cent. 



That quick exhaustion of the turpentine productivity of the 

 tree, and, in many cases, its early destruction, is not a necessity 

 in the production of naval stores Is shown by the French naval- 

 stores Industry. For the last 80 years a system of operation 

 has been followed in France that permits an orchard to be 

 worked for turpentine for from 30 to 50 years, practically with- 

 out loss of timber. Coupled with this admirable system of opera- 

 tion is a plan of management under which a crop of new timber 

 is continually growing into maturity to fill the gap left by the 

 harvesting of mature timber. As a result of such foresight the 

 French supply of naval stores is increasing yearly, both in value 

 and in amount. 



Conservative methods of turpentining in southern pine forests 

 have been developed by the Forest Service and are now in com- 

 mercial use on the Florida National Forest, and on private 

 holdings of some of the more progressive operators. Inertia, 

 not financial obstacles, must be regarded as the chief reason 

 why these conservative methods have not been more generally 

 employed. They make entirely possible, when combined with 

 intelligent forest management, a permanent as against a self- 

 destroying industry. 



DEPLETION AND PRICES. 



As in the case of lumber and newsprint, the superficial cause 

 of abnormal prices is a combination of abnormal demand and 

 shortage of the manufactured product. The stocks of turpen- 

 tine and rosin at the chief points of concentration were lower 

 at the end of the last naval-stores season than has been the 

 case in many years. At the same time the demand, both 

 foreign and domestic, has been stronger than at any other 

 time during the past five years. The natural result has been 

 keen competition for supplies on hand and consequent rise in 

 price. As in the case of lumber and other industries, there 

 have been increased costs. It has been difficult to secure ade- 

 quate supplies of skilled labor. Credit inflation alone would 

 have increased prices, but the fundamental difficulty has been 

 the depletion of the timber supplies from which naval stores 



